Thousands of Chinese Americans, including elders and children, Saturday lined in a parking lot in front of a Los Angeles suburb bank to donate for the earthquake relief effort in China, as local community groups scrambled to call for more donations to help the victims in their homeland.

People from around the area drove to the Cathay Bank branch in San Gabriel to drop off their money or checks, after a local Cantonese radio station, announced the event through its programming overnight.

Organizers said that over 200,000 dollars were collected during the one-day event and the money would be directly transferred to the quake-hit region in Sichuan through the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles.

"These days everyone in the Chinese-American community here is feeling the pain from the bottom of their hearts as reports about the devastating Sichuan earthquake pour in, and people are just anxious to offer their help," said Chester Chong, president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles, who helped organize the event.

Chong said that Saturday's event was just one of the many aid efforts for the China earthquake initiated by local Chinese American groups since May 12, when the magnitude 7.8 earthquake hit Sichuan province.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce and other groups will continue to mobilize the whole Chinese American community to raise more earthquake donations, as well as try their best to enlist help from the general public, Chong told Xinhua.

(Xinhua News Agency May 18, 2008)